Background/Question/Methods
In the midst of a digital transformation comparable to the development of oral language or the written word, this session discusses ways we should reconceptualize ecosystems science education using Web 2.0 tools and immersive interfaces. Emerging immersive media, such as virtual environments and augmented realities, are shaping participants' motivations, attributes, and social patterns into types of learning styles quite different than those based on sensory, personality, or intelligence factors. "Neomillennial" students seek learning situations that interweave face-to-face interactions with shared virtual-community experiences across distance and time. Further, Web 2.0 media (e.g., wikis, social tagging) are students’ strengths and preferences in creating, collaborating, and sharing knowledge.
In a virtual world, each participant has a digital avatar and moves through a simulated environment, interacting with computer-based agents, virtual artifacts, and complex contexts (Dede, 2009a). The Virtual Performance Assessment project (http://virtualassessment.org) is developing and studying three single-user, immersive, interactive simulations that serve as virtual performance assessments to measure middle school students’ ability to conduct inquiry in the context of ecosystems science (Clarke & Dede, in press). For example, the first assessment challenges students to determine why the kelp forest in a simulated Alaskan bay is depleting.
These new educational approaches also present challenges (Dede, 2009b). In Wikipedia, "knowledge" is constructed by negotiating compromises among various points of view - so how do we teach students to be "experts" on a topic? Powerful search strategies are undercutting organization and classification systems for knowledge - so what now constitutes a "curriculum"? Virtual worlds present simulations that simplify reality, but how effectively does what students learn in these environments transfer to the real world?
Results/Conclusions
To meet the challenges of preparing 21st century kids, this session will discuss how immersive interfaces coupled with Web 2.0 interactive media can empower teachers’ learning, pedagogy, and assessment to teach ecosystems science in more engaging and effective ways.
References
Clarke, J., and Dede, C. (in press). Assessment, technology, and change. Journal of Research in Teacher Education
Dede, C. (2009a). Immersive interfaces for engagement and learning. Science, 323(5910), 66-69.
